Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 154 days

Many guests who have sailed on board our ships and enjoyed seeing familiar faces amongst our crew, may have wondered what life is like for them in their daily jobs. For one guest recently on Queen Victoria, this curiosity became a reality.

At the Country Fair event which takes place every year on our Queens’ World Voyages, there are numerous activities aiming to raise money for the charities chosen by the ship’s company. One of those events is where guests are invited to buy raffle tickets to become a member of the Entertainment Staff for the day. Believe it or not this proved to be very popular, and the lucky winner was Joanne Brown, a retired schoolteacher from Vero Beach, Florida. After her day, I had a chat with her to see how she got on.

Firstly we chatted about life before becoming a member of the Entertainment Staff. For many years Joanne taught children with special needs, and has three children of her own along with six grand children. Although she is an experienced cruiser, this was her first voyage with Cunard, joining the World Voyage in Fort Lauderdale in January. She told me that her longest voyage before this was just 14 days, so she wasn’t sure how she would enjoy being on board for over a hundred days, but she says she loved every minute and is now a complete convert to Cunard.

Her friend for 60 years, Jane Upchurch had travelled on QE2, and travelling with four other friends she invited Joanne to join them. At the Country Fair she was helping the team sell raffle tickets for the Grand Prize Draw and next to her; Queens Room Vocalist Paul Ritchie was selling raffle tickets to become Entertainment Staff for the day. She told me; “Having been a tour guide conducting orientations, I thought I could do this and as you see I’m not that shy, so I thought it was a great idea. I would get to go behind the scenes and have a chance to do something really different. In the last few years I have been working through my bucket list, and so far I’ve sky dived, zip lined across a gorge, but this was probably the most fun I have had so far and I’ve made so many new friends”

Joanne’s day began receiving her schedule from Assistant Entertainment Director, Amanda Reid.

Finding your way around the guest areas of Queen Victoria is a big enough challenge, but Joanne’s first task was to explore the crew areas of the ship. She told me she found this really fascinating and here she is in one of the galleys with her guide, Entertainment Staff Nico Lansdell and Executive Chef, Bernhard Stumpfel.

Then it was time for Joanne’s first activity and a quiz in the Winter Garden. In preparation for her big day, she had researched her questions before taking on our World Voyage guests, who said that they had really enjoyed the activity with the twist of a fellow guest as Quizmaster.

Having given out prizes to the winners, Joanne headed to the Queens Room and her debut as a Bingo Caller. Under Nico’s guidance she operated the machine and called the numbers.

As prize money was involved she told me she was relieved that it all went smoothly and once the winners had been paid, and the event completed, it was time for lunch. The Entertainment Staff eat in the Officers Mess Room, so Joanne joined some of the team and chatted about her morning over her meal. From left to right, around the table with Joanne is, Simon Maycock, Melonie Jones, Chris Thomas, Amanda Reid and Nico Lansdell.

She said she was very impressed by the welcome she received from the Staff and Officers in the Mess. After lunch Joanne met up with resident DJ, Gary King to find out about her next activity; Darts in the Golden Lion Pub. This was her first experience of the game and as she told me later, it all went very well as you can see from this photo of her in action.

Joanne’s daughter is an anchor for Channel 10 in Miami, so we thought it would be fun to invite her as a guest on the Queen Victoria Live daily TV show with yours truly.

She told me all about her day so far and how delighted she was that everyone amongst the ships company and her fellow guests had accepted her so well in her temporary role. After the filming she told me how much she enjoyed her moment of fame and couldn’t wait to get home and tell her friends about the experience.

During the evening she worked with the Entertainment Staff in welcoming guests to the Royal Court Theatre Box Programme, and then later joined them in the Golden Lion Pub for the evening game show to wrap up her night.

Chatting to her the next day, Joanne told me how much she had enjoyed her day with the highlight being the morning Trivia. She was still being recognised around the ship, with guests asking her about her day. Joanne said; “While I was having my haircut in the salon another guest turned to me and asked “Where do you work on the ship?” I had to explain!”

She was still enjoying her new found fame by the time Queen Victoria reached Southampton, and then Joanne joined Queen Mary 2 to take her back to New York.

I’d like to thank Joanne for being such a great member of the team on the day, and for chatting to me afterwards so I could post this story.

I’ll be back on Thursday with a Blog featuring an amazing celebration for a guest who celebrated his 100^th birthday recently on Queen Victoria. Hopefully I’ll also have more news soon from Queen Elizabeth in Italy as well as posts from both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Thank you again for all your comments and questions. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 165 days

 

Welcome to another Blog, as Queen Mary 2 arrives in New York after her first Westbound Crossing of the season and Queen Victoria returns to Southampton after her first voyage of the summer, which took her guests to the sunny and warm Iberian Peninsula. Queen Elizabeth is progressing well and I’ll have some more pictures from the shipyard in Monfalcone on Tuesday and Thursday next week.

 

Although her 2010 World Voyage finished a week ago, in this Blog we are looking at some of the great events over the last week of that wonderful circumnavigation. But first, here’s a busy week in Cunard’s History, from 30 April to 6 May

 

1 May 2004	QE2 and Queen Mary 2 arrive in Southampton – the first time two Cunard Queens have been in the company’s home port since 1967. QE2 relinquishes the title of flagship to RMS Queen Mary 2, having been Cunard’s longest serving flagship.
2 May 1969	QE2 began her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York which took 4 days, 16 Hours & 35 Minutes making her the only ship offering a scheduled transatlantic service.
2 May 2005	QE2 marked 36 years of service when she arrived in her homeport of Southampton. A special Birthday party was held on board to honour the ship. Special guests included nine former and current Captains as well as 80 year old John Whitworth OBE, who was the Managing Director of Cunard Line at the time of QE2’s introduction and was instrumental in the ship’s construction.
3 May 1982	Whilst en route to Southampton from Philadelphia, QE2 is requisitioned by the British Government for the Falkland Islands campaign. Cunard Countess is also chartered for use in the conflict. Also requisitioned were the England and Atlantic Conveyor which were both Cunard ships although they were not in passenger service.
4 May 1839	Samuel Cunard signs a seven year contract to carry mail with the British Admiralty

 

 

As regular readers will know, the interdepartmental Crew Tug Of War is a huge event on the World Voyage on both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Following in the wake of many years of this traditional competition various departments trained for the big day. On the Maiden World Voyage the Musicians came out victorious, but were beaten last year by the Deck Department. So who was going to win in 2010? The defending champions were looking good in their fire fighting attire sailing through the first round.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the tough competition, the event is all about having fun and raising money for the World Voyage Charities, as well as offering an opportunity to dress up, like the Galley department pictured here led by Chef de Cuisine Eric Yeung.

 

 

 

 

 

There were just two ladies teams and this year the Entertainment team chose a country and western theme.

 

 

 

 

Although they looked great they were beaten by the Bar Girls in the final pull. Meanwhile the male members of the Entertainment Department had put together a “Dream Team”, made up of Musicians, Production Staff and Nico from the Entertainment Staff. The strategy seemed to work as they made their way to the semi final to meet the Deck Team.

 

 

 

It was a close call but the Entertainment team managed to win through to the final against a team of contractors who were fitting new carpets around the ship and were joined by Trevor, one of our chefs. Despite a valiant fight by the Dream Team, the contractors and Trevor were victorious and here they are receiving their award from Captain Christopher Rynd.

 

 

 

The mixed team was won by our Purser’s Staff, and here’s our Cashier Darryn Mulford accepting the award on behalf of his team.

 

 

 

There was one more award to be given and that was for the best dressed. This was won by the Production Department for their “Muscle Men”, under the leadership of Senior Production Manager, Chris Knowles.

 

 

 

You may be wondering why the lady in the left hand corner of the photo was laughing so much; it was because Ben Salevante (Queen’s Room Production Manager), had just ripped his outfit as he bent down to pose for the awaiting paparazzi!

 

A couple of days later our guests were treated to another fabulous performance from our Guest Choir. After the success of the performance six weeks beforehand the group was restarted by Simon Maycock of the Entertainment Staff, joined by guests who embarked in Sydney, Hong Kong and Dubai. Paul Ritchie led the rehearsals and conducted the concert, with Dustin Turner back on the piano. Here they are in action on the Royal Court Theatre stage.

 

 

What a great concert it was and congratulations to everyone who took part. Following their performance, which quite rightly received a full standing ovation, there was time to pose for a professional group photo in the Grand Lobby.  

 

 

 

It was coming to the end of the 2010 World Voyage and you could sense mixed feelings. Feelings of sadness that it was coming to an end, as well happiness as everyone looked back at an amazing adventure and all the new friends they had made. There was one more port to go and that was Civitavecchia in Italy. Many guests headed off to Rome for the day on tours offering an amazing taste of this wonderful city. However for those wanting a quieter day, a great meal and a walk along the beach, Civitavecchia is actually a great town with some really good restaurants.

 

 

 

Much as I love going around the world, and Asia is probably my favourite part of the World Voyage, I must admit tucking in to a fantastic pizza back in Italy was wonderful!

 

It was soon time for goodbyes and that was certainly done in style in the Golden Lion Pub on the last night and I promised I would mention some of the regulars who had managed to join the staff most nights. Firstly Tony and Peter (who you may remember were kind enough to give me those great pictures from the top of the Burj Khalifa), who were great regulars from Singapore.

 

 

 

Then of course there were the gentlemen I called the Three Wise Men. They had travelled the entire World Voyage and they had become great familiar faces each night and certainly the Pub felt quite different the night after they disembarked. Here they are, Gil, Brian and in the middle, the man behind the “Ducklings” – (that’s a whole story in itself!) – Terry Waite.

 

 

 

So there it was, the end of another year’s World Voyage and I hope you enjoyed following our Queens, their crews and guests as on their adventures around the world.

For those of you who were with us, I hope these Blogs have brought back some great memories and that you had an incredible time. We look forward to welcoming many of you again next year on Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary 2 on their 2011 World Voyages or perhaps on Queen Victoria on her voyages in North American waters.

 

Although I am going on leave today, there’s a lot more to share with you over the coming weeks as both Queens settle in to their summer seasons, so I’ll be still Blogging regularly with help from friends on all three ships. Amanda Reid will be taking over from me until I return to Queen Victoria at the end of May. Cheers for now Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 166 days

 

One of the landmark events on a World Voyage is when a Cunard Queen hosts the “Country Fair”. The event which goes back more years than I care to suggest, serves firstly as an opportunity for guests and the ships company to raise money for charity, but is also one that is enjoyed by everyone. Readers in Britain will be familiar with the annual Church Fete. Well this is very similar, with comparable events and that same wonderful atmosphere. The only differences are you don’t have to worry about the weather interrupting proceedings, the microphone system actually works and we don’t have to worry about a new roof!

 

In my last post we heard from Queen Mary 2 and the fabulous job they did at their Country Fair, so now it’s time to see what happened at Queen Victoria’s.

 

In keeping with Cunard’s World Voyage tradition, the charities being supported this year were chosen by the Officers and Crew on board Queen Victoria. This year the ship’s company chose Cancer Research UK ( The world’s leading independent organisation dedicated to cancer research), Emasithandane Children’s Project (a home for orphaned and other vulnerable children in Nyanga which is one of the poorest townships in Cape Town), Gawad Kalinga  (A housing project in the Philippines which has helped several hundreds of poor families build small homes) and ShelterBox (an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster worldwide, most recently in Haiti and China).

 

On a World Voyage there are numerous events to raise money for the ship’s chosen charities and on Queen Victoria this year events included, Auctions, Sponsored Events, Collections and Donations. For the second year we have also been lucky enough to have Marie and Frank Sotille running a charity table which features everything from local craftwork to guest donations.

 

 

This is their second year on Queen Victoria continuing the tradition from QE2. They do such an amazing job in raising so much during the World Voyage sea days and we are incredibly grateful for all their work.

 

Queen Victoria’s Country Fair marked the beginning of an amazing day. In fact work had been taking place for many days before hand, carefully orchestrated by Lisa Fanning, Thomas Quinones, Mel Jones and Jennifer Schaper of the Entertainment team along with many other members of the Entertainment Staff and guests.

 

The morning was a hive of activity as guests and crew prepared the stalls and decorated the Queens Room with Captain Rynd poised at 2pm to cut the ribbon to let eager guests spend their money.

 

 

It didn’t take long for the Queens Room to be packed with bargain hunters at the Second Hand Rose stall, and others trying their luck at the computer simulator where they could drive the ship, with our Bridge Officers on hand to help.

 

 

There was, Guess the Weight of the Cake, Chop the Carrot and we even had a raffle for a lucky guest to become a member of the Entertainment Staff for a day! This was won by Joanne Brown and you can read more about that in a Blog next week. We also had Tina Poxon, Mary Tinson and Joan Burrel as the Human Fruit Machine!

 

 

When refreshment was required, we had guests who volunteered to serve tea and cakes, and here’s Patsy Wilson serving fellow guests Elizabeth Davidson and Sean Thomson.

 

 

This was one of the big events where crew are also invited to come along and join in the fun and this is Ariel, one of our accommodation team who, by the looks of him, did very well at the tombola stall!

 

 

We also showed off items which were to be sold a couple of days later at the Charity Auction which included the whole World Voyage Chart, Afternoon Tea with the Captain in his quarters as well as items from the Deck and Engine Department and some unique Cunard memorabilia donated by guests and crew. In fact by the end of the World Voyage Queen Victoria had raised over $35,000 including the proceeds of the Navigational Chart Auction from each leg of the World Voyage, (which goes to the Princes trust). It was an amazing achievement and our thanks go to the guests and crew of Queen Victoria for all their work and generosity.

 

That night we held our Full World Voyage party; the final one of the voyage for our guests who were enjoying the 2010 Full World Voyage. The Theme was our adventures around the world and the Culinary Team excelled themselves in some superb sculptures and decorations like this head table depicting some of the ports we had visited.

 

 

How about this magnificent ice sculpture? It is a stunning Chinese Dragon, which arrived in four sections.

 

 

These incredible displays weren’t only for show; here guests were invited to enjoy fresh sushi and seafood from one of our talented chefs. Yes that is a handmade Hong Kong Junk behind him.

 

 

Much of the beautiful artwork had been created by our on board ice and food carver, Catalino, and here he is with some of his handiwork like this camel which took him two days to make.

 

 

There was so much preparation involved for such an event and here are our Executive Chef Bernard Stumphel and Executive Sous Chef, Nicholas Oldroyd, looking very proud of their team’s work.

 

 

And here they are, just some of the creative talent behind the event.

 

 

Then it was time to let our guests enjoy the evening which was a huge success, receiving numerous compliments from guests saying it was a fantastic crescendo to the World Voyage, as you can see in this picture which captures just some of the atmosphere of the evening.

 

That night there was an Egyptian Ball and we were fortunate enough to have Amanda Reid on board. She had been on for the beginning of Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage and had been instrumental in the Sand Dance at their Egyptian Ball in January. When she suggested doing the same on Queen Victoria I agreed instantly before realising who she had cast in the roles……

 

 

Yes, take a close look and the cast are – on the left Social Hostess, Jenny Schaper, on the Right Assistant Entertainment Director Amanda Reid and yes in the middle it is yours truly! Oh Well it was the World Voyage!

 

 

That’s it for now, but I’ll be back tomorrow with some pictures and news of some of the events over the last couple of weeks. I know I said I would have more pictures of Queen Elizabeth, but I’m afraid they will have to wait for next Tuesday – but they’ll be worth it. Cheers for now, Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 168 days

 

Firstly I hope you like our new look and more interactive Blog. A big thank you to Richard, Matt, Shelley and Lisa back in Southampton, for managing to incorporate so many ideas in to the new look Blog as well as making it easier to read. I’d love to hear what you think, along with all your comments and questions as always.

 

Both our Queens have settled in to their summer seasons, with Queen Mary 2 making her first westbound Transatlantic Crossing and Queen Victoria on her first voyage to the Iberian Peninsula. However there are still a few stories from our World Voyages that I’ll be sharing with you over the next week or so, as well as what’s new on board and ashore.

 

Now it’s a great pleasure to hand over to Queen Mary 2’s Social Hostess who managed to send me a post about the last few days of Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage before she went on leave in Southampton, so it’s over to Freda.

 

Guest Blog – Freda Singleton, Queen Mary 2, Social Hostess

 

As Queen Mary 2 approached Southampton last Thursday, she came to the end of her 2010 World Voyage; we’d like to bring all our avid bloggers up to date with the latest.

 

We asked our guests to make the 2010 World Voyage Charity Country Fair the best ever and they jumped up to the challenge!  The atmosphere in the Queens Room was pure Country Fair, with the full range of typical stalls hosted by guests and crew alike from ‘Hook the fish’, the flower booth, the coconut shy, and the wonderful 5-minute massage run by the housekeeping team, the florist, the entertainment staff and the Canyon Ranch Spa respectively; to Numerology, the Human Fruit Machine, ‘Guess the weight of the cake’ and the ‘Book stall’ all hosted by our guests, to name just a few of the activities on offer. 

 

  

 

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The ‘Second Hand Rose’ stall could have easily filled the entire starboard section on the upper level and was all but empty by the end of the afternoon. All supported by the delicious offering from the Corner Cafe with cream teas, crepe suzettes, chocolate coated strawberries and the most tempting display of beautiful cakes, pastries and sandwiches. And what a fantastic result!  A phenomenal $18,426, made up of $11,776 from the fair and $6,650 from the auction of things that money can’t buy, such as dinner at the Captain’s Table, blowing the ship’s whistle, a Queen Mary 2 life ring, the full World Voyage navigational chart, Queen Mary 2’s Sunday ensign – enthusiastically bid for and taken by the on board Protestant Priest – and much more. 

         

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This picture shows just some of the nautical items that were available for our guests to bid for, while Captain Bates discusses raffle prizes with guests. As you can see from the next picture, there was even an authentic coconut shy!

 

 

Added to that were the superb contributions from the crew, who somehow managed their own midnight auctions and raised $2,340 (part of which went to the Crew Welfare charities). The total of Queen Mary 2’s charity donations for the whole World Voyage came to the magnificent total of $26,020.05, which has been split between this year’s four nominated charities:

 

The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

The Prostheses Foundation of Thailand

The Seaman’s Institute of Brooklyn, New York

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution

 

 

 

Then it was – Time to Dance – Queen Mary 2 Style!

 

Queen Mary 2’s answer to Strictly Come Dancing, we gave our guests their moment in the spotlight on the largest dance floor at sea.  To the delight of the packed Queens Room we were entertained by ten superb dance performances from the traditional waltz to the Viennese waltz and from the quickstep, to the jive and the Argentinean tango! Ten nervous couples put themselves at the mercy of our tough panel of judges, led by Entertainment Director, Ray Rouse – a fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance and two of the talented Royal Cunard Dancers, Kelly-Rhian Scott and Katie Woolnough, assessing their technique, timing, interpretation and performance.

 

 

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It was such a rewarding experience to see such polished and elegant routines that for many, was entirely the result of their time on board with us for our 2010 World Voyage. Heart-warming reinforcement indeed for those who select Cunard for the ballroom and dancing!  

 

 

Our runners-up – Jean Baker and Gentleman Dance Host, Dennis King who performed an outstanding quickstep.  Jean’s radiant smile lit up the entire ballroom and did not slip once! Meanwhile here are the well-deserved winners with their Argentinean Tango; Cecile Lanthier and Steve Groleau.

 

 

What better way to celebrate the end of a truly legendary, elegant and memorable World Voyage than to send us spinning us into the 2010 transatlantic season – the glamorous finale with Renato and Katy to whom so many of our guests wish to pay a special thank you for their dancing expertise and inspiration.

           

                                             

Thank you so much Freda for another great Blog and congratulations to everyone involved in those fantastic events; it’s great to see so much being raised for these very worthy charities.

 

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a blog about some of the events during the last week of Queen Victoria’s World Voyage and on Thursday I’m delighted to tell you that I will have brand new photos from Monfalcone in Italy where Queen Elizabeth is currently under construction. Cheers, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 179 days

 

I know it’s a bit of a cliché to say how time flies, but it always feels the same towards the end of a World Voyage. Queen Victoria has just made her third transit through the Suez Canal and will be arriving in Piraeus for Athens today, before heading off to Civitavecchia for Rome on Saturday. Then it will be the final four day crossing back to Southampton. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 is back in New York having now completed her 101 day, third World Voyage. This evening she will be crossing the Atlantic back to Southampton and both ships will be there together on 22 April, which is the first time they have been there together since last year, so it will be cause for celebration. And with less than six months to go before our new Queen joins the fleet, Queen Elizabeth is making great progress and hopefully I’ll have some more pictures for you soon. 

 

Before we find out about the culinary celebrations on Queen Mary 2 here’s this week in Cunard’s history from 16 to 22 April.

 

16 April 1982	QE2 makes her maiden call at Arrecife, Lanzarote
16 April 2004	Queen Mary 2 departs Southampton on her first transatlantic crossing to New York.
17 April 1920	The Albania is launched as the first new build for Cunard after the First World War, although her keel was laid in 1914
18 April 1912	The Carpathia docked at Pier 54, in New York with the 700+ survivors of Titanic. She was greeted by thousands of people.
18 April 1969	Cunard formally accepts delivery of QE2

 

You may remember in February this year, we highlighted a Cunard World Voyage tradition, with the Chef’s Salon Culinaire on Queen Victoria. If you didn’t get to read it you can click on this link to find out more.

 

http://wearecunard.com/2010/02/19/

 

I was delighted the other day when Mark Oldroyd, Queen Mary 2’s Executive Sous Chef, sent me pictures of their event, which they held recently. The competition took place in our flagship’s magnificent Queens Room, and Mark takes up the story:

 

 “Queen Mary 2’s 2010 Chefs Culinary Cooking Competition was a huge success. The chefs really went all out and produced masterpieces and signature dishes that even Escoffier would be proud of. The team really wowed our guests with the event being the talk of the ship for days. We were so proud of the chefs; the commitment and sheer dedication the team projected was electric, it was a chance for them to let go and cook their favourite signature dishes and culinary visions. They all definitely exceeded all our expectations.”

 

 He told me that they had five categories in this year’s event including an award for the Pastry and Bakery Show Piece.

 

This was won by Richard Serran who is Demi Chef de Partie Baker. Here he is with his award winning entry and from (left to right) Executive Chef Karl Winkler, Executive Sous Chef Mark Oldroyd, Hotel Manager David Stephenson and Food & Beverage Manager Bernhard Fischer.

 

The next winner was for the Hot or Cold Plated Entree category

               

 

This was won by Noli Salimbagat who is a Chef De Cuisine and like so many of the entries managed to make his work look too delicious to ever eat.  

 

Many of our guests have an opportunity to see a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration while they are on board and this competition looked for the most artistic creation.

 

 

The Fruit and Vegetable Carving award went to Rizalde Gagaring who is a Chef De Partie, Food Artist.

 

One of the most popular categories amongst our guests, is the dessert section, which always produces some of the most inventive pieces.

 

 

The Plated Dessert winner was Franz Joseph Ballelos who is a Demi Chef De Partie, Pastry.

 

Some of the biggest creations are in the Cold Larder Buffet Display category.

 

 

This was won by Panchoo Arvin Kumar who is a Chef de Partie

 

Back in the Britannia Restaurant Galley, all the winners came together with their Certificates for a group photograph.

 

 

From left to right they are, Panchoo Arvin Kumar, Richard Serran, Franz Joseph Ballelos, Noli Salimbagat and Rizalde Gagaring.

 

Karl Winkler and Mark Oldroyd told me they would like to thank all departments and the ships on board services for their generosity as they donated some excellent prizes which were really appreciated by all the winners.

 

Thank you Mark for sharing this great success story and congratulations to you and all your chefs for what sounds like an amazing event, showing yet again the incredible skills of our on board culinary teams.

 

That’s it for this week, I’ll be back on Monday with more news from around the fleet, including a very special story from Queen Victoria as we come to the last few days of our 2010 World Voyage. We’ll also have some other great stories so thanks again for logging on. Cheers for now Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 183 days

 

Welcome to another Blog, this time celebrating our World Voyages on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Thank you all for all your comments and questions as well; it’s great to hear so many of you are following our Queens’ progress around the globe.

 

There are many events that only take place on longer voyages which makes them very special. One activity that we first tried out on Queen Victoria’s maiden voyage was Float Your Boat. Guests are invited to form teams of would be Mariners, and construct a ship that will carry a cargo from one end of the Pavilion Pool to another. There aren’t many rules apart from the fact the vessel cannot be touched whilst in the water and cannot have any form of motorised propulsion. The rest we leave to our guests’ imagination.

 

The activity was first staged on the way to New Zealand, but guests asked for another chance to win the accolade, so we announced a Re-Float Your Boat after we left Hong Kong, with the defending champion Ace with its American Team ready to fend off a new set of competitors.

 

The first job was for the teams to show off their craft, and some even dressed for the occasion like the crew of the SS UKAUSTUS.

 

 

The more astute will realise the name is made up of the nationalities of the team members, Dianne Jones from Australia, Jaques Baillargeon from USA and Jack Conn from the UK. Then it was time to see how well the ships would perform in their Sea Trials which took place in the whirlpool!

 

 

This was a chance for the owners to try out their handiwork, however it didn’t always go as the teams would have liked, such as this interesting vessel Captained by Henry Strange from Britain.

 

 

Then it was time for the actual heats and it was quite a sight to see the various craft in the water especially the French ship under the command of Gilbert Cheve whose ingenious design used rice crackers as floatation devices!

 

 

But there do have to be winners, and unfortunately Ace didn’t manage to retain the title. Instead the Ribband was shared by two teams and here they are receiving their awards from Nico Lansdell of the Entertainment Staff, who did a great job in organising yet another very successful World Voyage event.

 

 

Easter is always a big occasion on board Cunard ships, starting with Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday. It’s a great opportunity for our Pastry Chefs to show off their amazing talents with Chocolate displays around the ship. Queen Mary 2 had quite a few different displays on the Purser’s desk and in the various restaurants.

 

 

Meanwhile here on Queen Victoria guests woke up on Easter Sunday to a magnificent festive display in the Grand Lobby.

 

 

And finally…………..

 

You may have been as surprised as many of our guests were on Queen Victoria recently, when they saw an article in the ship’s Daily Programme suggesting that Cunard was about to change the colours of the ships’ funnels. Well see for yourself:

 

 

You may be interested to know that the date on the front cover of the Daily Programme was April 1st!!

 

Oh yes we had some fun with that, watching numerous guests getting their cameras out and taking their final pictures of the old colour as they disembarked on their tours that morning. In fact we even received a complaint at the Purser’s Desk later that day, saying they didn’t like the new colour!

 

We would also like to thank the three guests (who will remain anonymous) who came along to our advertised activity at 11.00am………

 

 

The time was duly observed with the three rather confused guests, who when the realised the date, pleaded with us not to say who they were!

 

That’s it for today, but I’ll be back on Wednesday with a feature about our recent overnight stay in Dubai which includes some spectacular pictures taken from the top of the World’s tallest building. Then on Thursday we’ll have a special story from Queen Mary 2 and a recent Culinary Event held on their 2010 World Voyage. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 217 days

 

As Queen Victoria heads north to Hong Kong, Queen Mary 2 has arrived in Australia for her overnight call to Sydney. Australia is a highlight for guests and crew as it marks the half way point of the World Voyage and the ports of call there are stunning. This year both ships make maiden calls to the south coast cities for the first time, so I want to share Queen Victoria’s visits to those ports in this Blog.

 

Australia is big, in fact England could fit in to the country 59 times, yet it has the lowest population density of any country in the world with just two people per square kilometre. Between our first port of Sydney and the final port of Exmouth, Queen Victoria sailed 3,232 nautical miles across three time zones. She visited six cities, four of which are apparently in the top fifteen most livable cities in the world!

 

We started our Australian adventure in Sydney and as you may recall from the Blog on 22 February, we celebrated our third visit to the city by turning Queen Victoria pink, in aid of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. For more great pictures of Queen Victoria in Sydney on last year’s World Voyage click on this link:

 

http://wearecunard.com/2009/02/g%e2%80%99day-sydney/

 

Here’s a picture of Queen Victoria docked at Circular Quay taken this year from the other side of the iconic Harbour Bridge.

 

 

There is so much to do in Sydney, but one of my favourites is to take a ferry to Manley, and then walk along the coastal path where you feel you are in the outback, yet have the most incredible views of Sydney Harbour:

 

 

After a spectacular Sailaway, we made our second call to the capital of the state of Victoria, Melbourne. It was the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927 and has twice shared the top position of The World’s Most Livable Cities on the basis of its cultural attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions. It is home to numerous prestigious sporting events and is an impressive home to the arts. It was the perfect city to host Queen Victoria’s World Voyage Dinner, which this year was held at the National Gallery of Victoria. I’ll be doing a separate Blog about that in a few days time, but needless to say it was a spectacular event. This is a great view of the city:

 

 

After a day at sea, Queen Victoria made her maiden call to Adelaide, the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and the fifth-largest city in the country. Named in honour of Queen Adelaide who was born in Germany, the consort of King William IV. The city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely settled British province in Australia. It is known for its many festivals, sporting events, food, culture, long beachfronts and its wine. In fact I spent the day with some of Queen Victoria’s Sommeliers visiting the D’arenberg winery in McLaren Vale, and I’ll have a special Blog on that as well over the coming days. It gave us an opportunity to see some of South Australia’s stunning countryside:

 

 

Two sea days later, we arrived in yet another Australian state, this time Western Australia. I soon found out from our many Australians on board that they pronounced this town, Albany with A as in “At” as opposed to the way I would have said it as “All”! Once that was cleared up, our guests enjoyed the relatively small city of approximately 33,000 residents.

 

 

The city was founded in January 1827 as a military outpost of New South Wales as part of a plan to forestall French ambition in the region. The area was initially named Frederickstown in honour of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. In 1831 the settlement was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony, and renamed Albany by Governor James Stirling. During the First World War the town was last port of call for troopships departing Australia, but today it is more known as a tourist base where visitors can discover the beautiful surrounding areas as well as the town which is well regarded for its natural beauty and preservation of heritage.

 

 

The following day we reached the port city of Fremantle which is 19 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, at the mouth of the Swan River on Australia’s western coast. It was the first settlement of the Swan River colonists in 1829. The city is named after Captain Charles Fremantle, the English naval officer who had pronounced possession of Western Australia and who established a camp at the site.

 

Most of our guests visited the nearby city of Perth which was founded on 12 June 1829 by Captain James Stirling, as the political centre of the free-settler Swan River Colony.

 

 

There were many stunning buildings in the city, and one of the most impressive has to be the Swan Bells which are a set of eighteen bells hanging in a specially built 82.5 metres (271 ft)-high copper and glass campanile.

 

 

 

Twelve of the set are historic bells that were donated by the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, to the State of Western Australia as part of the 1988 Australian bicentenary celebrations. The other six were cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, with metals mined in Western Australia. They are one of the largest sets of change ringing bells in the world, and have become a major attraction in the city since they began ringing in December 2001.

Our final port in Australia was certainly the smallest and most remote, and as one Australian guest told me “It’s the closest to the outback you’ll get to on the coast”. Queen Victoria anchored off the town of Exmouth and the ships tenders took guests and crew ashore.

 

They weren’t kidding when they said it was small. We arrived at the pontoon area which is currently being developed in to a lovely marina area, but as you can see it’s still in the early stages.

 

 

A short shuttle bus ride took us in to the town of just under two thousand residents, although apparently this does swell to over six thousand at the height of the tourist season. Exmouth was established in 1964 to support the nearby United States Naval Communication Station. Despite its current expansion, it is still a small rural town. This is the high street which is as busy as it gets:

 

 

The two big attractions in the area are the Cape Range National Park and the world renowned Ningaloo Marine Park, famous for its snorkeling and glass bottom boat tours. There’s not that much in the town itself, so when I asked David and Sue Holbert from Britain what they had done, they told me it was apparently a great place to have your haircut. Here they are sporting their new looks:

 

 

Meanwhile in our pursuit to find something to drink and eat we did find a good local pub, having given up looking for this Chinese restaurant?

 

 

I still don’t know what that sign was doing there; maybe next year! In the meantime I think our chances of finding a good Chinese restaurant may be a bit better when we visit Hong Kong this week!

 

Well that’s it from Australia for another year, but I have two more Blogs from this great country coming to you this week, including a report from Queen Victoria’s 2010 World Voyage Dinner and our trip to a Winery near Adelaide. I’ll also be back with another Video Blog about Queen Elizabeth and news of some stunning artwork that will feature on board our new Queen. Cheers Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 244 days

 

One of the best aspects of a world voyage is the tremendous variety of entertainment and activities we are able to offer our guests. Recently on Queen Victoria’s second leg of this World Voyage, our guests were delighted to find that one of the musical legends of the 1960’s was not only on board, but was also going to present two lectures about his life and amazing career. It was great to spend a bit of time with Roger and his wife Camilla, and chat about his work. He told me that one of the most common misconceptions from many of us in the UK is that the Byrds are not in fact a British band! So for those of you like me who maybe know his music more than the man himself, here’s a potted history.

 

Jim McGuinn, later known as Roger, was already a veteran of the New York and Los Angeles music scene when he co-founded the group that would become The Byrds with Gene Clark and David Crosby in 1964.

 

 

 

Prior to forming the Byrds, Roger toured and performed folk music with the Limeliters, Chad Mitchell Trio and Bobby Darin as a guitarist and banjo player. Originally from Chicago, Roger studied at the Old Town School of Folk Music and was active on Chicago’s folk scene, where he was strongly influenced as a teenager by Bob Gibson.  Within a few weeks of finishing high school, Roger was working with the Limeliters in California, where he played guitar and banjo on their album “Tonight: In Person.”

 

After touring for a while with Bobby Darin, Roger moved to New York at Darin’s request, to work for his publishing company. He and Frank Gari co-wrote the song, “Beach Ball,” and performed it with Darin, as the City Surfers, on a very rare single released in July 1963. After hearing the Beatles for the first time, Roger began playing folk songs to a rock beat in the coffee houses of Greenwich Village. His experiments in merging folk and rock took him to Los Angeles and the Troubadour, where he met Gene Clark and then David Crosby who added his unique concepts of harmony to the duo, thereby completing the beginning of one of the most influential bands of the ’60s.

 

In January 1965 Columbia Records signed the Byrds and they recorded their first number one hit, “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Three years later McGuinn and Chris Hillman hired Gram Parsons and headed for Nashville where they recorded the now critically acclaimed “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.”

 

Roger McGuinn disbanded the Byrds in 1973 to pursue his dream of a solo career and made five solo albums with Columbia Records. Roger’s latest release in 2006 was a 4 CD 100 song Box Set of Rock, Electrified Blues and Folk, rich in Rickenbacker “Jingle Jangle” – called “The Folk Den Project”.

 

This was Roger’s first time, lecturing on board so I asked him how he found the experience; he was kind enough to write this Guest Blog:

 

Guest Blog – Roger McGuinn – Founder Member Of The Byrds

 

 

My wife Camilla and I just completed a leg of the Queen Victoria World Voyage from New York to San Francisco through the Panama Canal. I was invited to give two lectures on board entitled “How Folk Music took me to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”  We joined in the excitement with the other guests to experience one of the Seven Wonders of the World!

 

The camaraderie of the voyage began the first day at our restaurant table with the three other couples who sat with us; one from New York, one from Scotland, and another from Australia. By the end of the voyage neighboring tables were sharing stories of their daily adventures with our gregarious group. The restaurant quickly became a gathering of friends.

 

The “Victorian London” motif of the ship and dressing for dinner each evening set the stage for the feel of an elegant by-gone period of time.  We had a breathtaking view from a fantastic balcony. It was too nice to keep to ourselves, so we hosted two “sail away” parties during our voyage; one from Cartagena and the other from Acapulco.

 

After we traversed the Panama Canal, I gave my first lecture about my early influences in music in the beautiful Royal Court Theatre. I began with singing a bit of “Heartbreak Hotel,” the song that inspired to make music my life’s ambition. Throughout the lecture I spoke of the career opportunities that came serendipitously along the way throughout my 50 years in the entertainment business, beginning with being hired for my first professional job when I was 17 by the Limeliters. My keynote presentation included clips from those early years and the people I worked with including the Chad Mitchell Trio, Ertha Kit, Bobby Darin, Judy Collins and Paul Simon. Then I recounted the story of the formation of the Byrds.

 

My second lecture began with the story on how Miles Davis was responsible for the Byrds being signed to a recording contract on Columbia Records. The 45 minutes seemed to fly by as I told the stories of the songs, the musicians, the movie sound tracks and my current projects. There was little time for questions, but I met with the folks after the lecture and heard about how my music affected their lives. Queen Victoria created a small town feeling for all the guests. There were no strangers on board.

 

In the mornings we always enjoyed the televised shows of Alastair Greener, the Entertainment Director. He kept us informed of the daily lectures, shows and adventures available. There was so much to do, but there were days where we just sat on the balcony and enjoyed the changing colors of the ocean and sky.

 

After a long leisurely dinner with our table mates, we often went to the various dance venues. I have never considered myself a dancer but the elegance of the evenings prompted us to dance the night away to the sounds of some wonderful bands.

 

Queen Victoria captures the grand days of ocean voyages! We are looking forward to our next trip! All the best, Roger McGuinn

 

I’d like to thank Roger again for his wonderful lectures and for taking the time to talk to us on the Blog. Not only is he a legend in the music business but a fascinating person to talk to. Roger was also kind enough to coming on the morning TV show that our guests watch and we thought you may like to see a clip from that:

 

 

 

You can find out more about Roger at his website by clicking on this link. www.mcguinn.com

 

I’ll be back again on Thursday with my regular weekly post and more news from the World Voyages on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Cheers Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 259 days

 

As Queen Mary 2 continues her World Voyage with her maiden call to Muscat in Oman, Queen Victoria is coming to the end of her second leg of her World Voyage, arriving for the first time in San Francisco on Wednesday 27 January. If you want to watch her arrival on the bridge cam you can click on this link:

 

http://www.cunard.co.uk/bridgecam/qv_cam1.asp

  

We are not sure of the exact time that we will be passing under the Golden Gate Bridge but it will probably be between 6am and 7am local time (2pm to 3pm GMT).

 

A week earlier Queen Victoria was making her third transit of the Panama Canal. You can find out more about the Panama Canal and last year’s transit along with some great photos, facts and figures by clicking on this link:

 

http://wearecunard.com/2009/01/22/

 

Making the transit through one of the engineering marvels of the world is a real highlight of this voyage, and our guests were up very early to catch our approach to the first and probably most impressive of the three sets of locks. As I mentioned in the Blog last year; a good quiz question is “In which direction does the Panama Canal flow?” This map will give you the answer and also shows the location of the different locks.

 

 

 

 

 

We entered the Gatun Locks at about 8.30am on a beautiful day which although hot, was just right. As I went out on deck it was very busy with guests taking lots of photographs, and this year, as we progressed from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific, there were ships passing us in the locks going in the opposite direction, which is possible as the locks work independently of one another.

 

 

Meanwhile our on board photographers had been granted permission to go ashore and took some fantastic pictures of Queen Victoria in the locks, it’s great to have the professionals aboard to get shots like this which shows what a tight squeeze it is.

 

 

 

As many of you will know Queen Victoria is a Panamax ship, which means she is the maximum size of ship that can pass through the canal locks, which also means that the chamber walls are literally inches away from the ship’s hull. As I passed Café Carinthia, which is located on deck 2, the ship was just entering one of the locks and I managed to get this intriguing picture through the window. You can see the lock wall with a marker that indicates how far in to the chamber the ship was at the time.

 

Just over an hour and a quarter later and with the help of three lock chambers, Queen Victoria had been lifted 85 feet, and was now sailing through the beautiful Gatun Lake which is a protected area, so everyone was able to enjoy some stunning scenery.

 

During our transit of the lake, Ed Paulk, who had been giving us an excellent commentary from the bridge, gave guests a fascinating lecture in the Royal Court Theatre. He told us about the day’s transit as well as some details about the history of the Canal.

 

He also told us about the current construction works that were taking place along the Canal. In 2007 work began on widening the canal and installing new locks that would be able to accommodate much larger ships. The $5.5billion US dollar project will be completed by 2014, marking the Canal’s 100 year anniversary. The new chambers will be 1,600 feet long, 60 feet deep and 180 feet wide which means ships like Queen Mary 2 will be able to go through the canal from 2014. In fact the largest cargo ship that will be able to go through could carry a staggering 13,000 containers. The authorities are using the latest in technology in this massive project, which will see 60% of the water in the new locks being recycled in to holding basins. Although we could see the widening works from the ship, the new locks weren’t visible, but will eventually look like this:

 

 

After his lecture Ed then continued with his commentary from the Bridge, as we passed under the magnificent Century Road Bridge which was designed and built by a German team of architects and engineers about 5 years ago.

 

 

 

 

By 3.00pm we were approaching the second set of locks, Pedro Miguel, where the lowering process would begin. Here is another great shot from our on board photographers from the lock gate as Queen Victoria approached.

 

 

 

By about 5.30pm we had been through all the sets of locks and sailed under the Bridge of the Americas, which is seen by many as a formal welcome to the Pacific Ocean. As we turned north to Acapulco we reflected on what an amazing day it had been. No matter how many times you go through the Panama Canal, it never fails to impress.

 

Now we have something very different which I hope you enjoy. Our on board Videographer, Suzie Long, made this remarkable video taken from Queen Victoria’s bridge. The video is a clip from the Souvenir Voyage DVD, which is available for our guests at the end of each voyage, and shows us going through the locks – though somewhat speeded up!

 

 

I’d like to thank the on board photographers for all their help with these pictures and video and hope to bring you more in the future.

 

I’ll be back on Thursday with another regular post which will also celebrate Queen Mary 2’s latest star of the month. We’ll post some exclusive pictures of Queen Victoria’s maiden call to San Francisco as soon as we can, along with more news about Queen Elizabeth’s progress in Italy.  Cheers for now, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 264 days

 

As I am writing this post, Queen Victoria has just made her third transit of the Panama Canal, and is now heading north to Acapulco. I’ll have a special Blog next week with some great pictures of this highlight of Queen Victoria’s World Voyage. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 has just made her maiden call to Safaga in Egypt where her guests will have enjoyed tours to Luxor and the “Valley of The Kings”. 

 

Before we show you pictures and video of Queen Elizabeth’s interior, here’s Cunard’s history, for the week 22 to 28 January:

 

23 January 1951	Caronia makes her maiden call to Honolulu, Hawaii
26 January 1856	The Persia begins her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York, as Cunard’s last but one paddle steamer.
26 January 1986	QE2 makes her maiden call at Callao, Peru
26 January 2008	Queen Victoria makes her maiden call at Acapulco

 

Queen Elizabeth’s Float Out ceremony was an amazing occasion, as it gave us the opportunity to witness a milestone in her construction process as well as being able to have a sneak look inside our new Queen, to see how she was progressing. Although it will be less than ten months before her maiden voyage, the interior of the ship at this stage is literally just metal.

 

To date the main focus of attention has been on the superstructure of the ship, but now that she has moved in to her first outfitting dock the attention turns to the inside. I took quite a few photographs, but frankly it would be hard to work out which area is which, so I took some pictures on board Queen Victoria this week, to give you an idea of what these areas may look like in 37 weeks time, although of course the décor will be different.

 

Most of the ship still looks very much like a shell and as you’ll see in this first photo of the upper level of the Britannia Restaurant, the outfitting process makes a dramatic difference.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

 

 

One thing we noticed in many areas of the ship, such as the Grand Lobby, Royal Arcade, Queens Room and Royal Court Theatre was the huge amount of scaffolding, which would enable work to take place on the very high bulkheads. You’ll see what I mean in this next shot, which is a view looking aft from the B Staircase towards the Grand lobby.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

You can see the lift shafts to the left, and the red panels are the fire screen doors which will eventually be concealed. One subject that I talked about on an earlier Video Blog was the outfitting of the bars, and how the tiling in those areas had already been started, and you can see this on the left hand side of this view of the Golden Lion Pub.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

This was our first opportunity to look at the upper areas of the ship towards the aft, which had only recently been added. This is the view of the Lido Buffet area looking aft, and you can see that the windows still haven’t been installed yet.

 

Click image to enlarge

 

 

While we looked at Queen Elizabeth’s interiors, I was grateful to Peter Shanks, Cunard’s President and Managing Director, for taking the time to chat to me about the day and the progress of Cunard’s latest Queen. So here is the next in the series of Video Blogs from that special day:-

 

 

 

I’d like to thank everyone again for all their assistance on that cold day, which enabled me bring you these pictures and Video. Please keep your comments and questions coming in, and I look forward to posting another Blog at the beginning of next week with pictures of Queen Victoria’s transit of the Panama Canal. Cheers for now, Alastair